Reducing New Hires' Negative Image of the Public Sector:

Abstract Some negative images of the public sector or public employees are deep rooted in our mind. These include a lack of attractive monetary reward, weak competitiveness, a conservative and passive attitude, and work... [ view full abstract ]

Abstract
Some negative images of the public sector or public employees are deep rooted in our mind. These include a lack of attractive monetary reward, weak competitiveness, a conservative and passive attitude, and work overload. These images can prevent people from taking a public service job. In cases people do, negative images compromise their work morale. This study asks whether onboard public service training, which aims to offer public sector new hires pertinent knowledge about government work, can reduce negative images. We collected pre-training and post-training data from Taiwanese newly-hired public employees in 2014. Regression results show that both actual training effectiveness and perceived training effectiveness influence new hires’ negative impressions of the public sector, but the relationship is moderated by new hires’ motivations of job selection. The impact of training effectiveness is more pronounced if people have strong autonomous motivation, and less pronounced if people have strong controlled motivation. We conclude that training matters in reducing the negative image of government, but not without limitations.



Research questions: (i) Does onboard public service training reduce new hires’ negative images of the public sector? (ii) If so, is this impact universal? People select a public service job for different reasons. While some are really interested in public service (autonomous motivation), some are forced to choose a government job (controlled motivation). As we can imagine, people high in autonomous motivation may perceive less negative image, whereas people high in controlled motivation may perceive more negative image. In this, should we expect a more pronounced impact of training among people who sincerely value public service? Is the impact less pronounced among people who are reluctant to choose public service?

Hypothesis 1: Training effectiveness, both actual effectiveness and perceived effectiveness, reduces new hires’ perceived negative image of the public sector.
Hypothesis 2a: Autonomous motivation in job selection is negatively related to new hires’ perceived negative image of the public sector.
Hypothesis 2b: The relationship in H1 is moderated by autonomous motivation in such a way that the reduction of perceived negative image is more obvious among people high in autonomous motivation.
Hypothesis 3a: Controlled motivation in job selection is positively related to new hires’ perceived negative image of the public sector.
Hypothesis 3b: The relationship in H1 is moderated by controlled motivation in such a way that the reduction of perceived negative image is less obvious among people high in controlled motivation.